


The Quest for Immortality

by athersgeo



Category: Liáo zhāi zhì yì | Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio - Pú Sōnglíng
Genre: Fox spirits get a bad rap, Gen, Reworking of a classic story, expansion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-21
Updated: 2018-12-21
Packaged: 2019-09-23 17:59:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17085056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/athersgeo/pseuds/athersgeo
Summary: The Hu sisters earned a bad reputation. This is their side of the story...





	The Quest for Immortality

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Kaydel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaydel/gifts).



> No beta readers or fox spirits were harmed in the writing of this story.
> 
> I hope you enjoy this :)

The Quest for Immortality

A long time ago, three fox spirit sisters roamed the land. The eldest was Semistra, the middle was known as Tertia and the youngest possessed the name Quarta. Like all fox spirits, they wished to attain immortality and so they travelled the land seeking the information they needed to achieve their quest.

All were beautiful young things with glorious long hair and luminous eyes and wherever they went, they attracted attention. Men would tail on behind them, hanging onto their every word, while the women would often view them with spite and hatred. Worst, however, were the Taoist priests. Despite the three sisters' desire to learn, whenever they came upon a Taoist priest they would be run out of the area with threats and accusations of wrong doing.

After many years of searching without much success, Semistra said to her sisters: "I tire of this wandering. It seems as if the secrets of immortality are always held just beyond our reach."

"The priests hoard the knowledge like precious metal and jewels," agreed Tertia. "Perhaps we should accept our lot in life and choose husbands."

Quarta nodded in agreement. "I have heard that in the next village there is a family with three brothers all in want of a wife. Perhaps they will be suitable husbands for us."

"What employment do they hold?" Semistra asked. 

"One is a farmer, one runs an apothecary while the third is a scholar seeking his place in the world," said Quarta. "I think I should like to be a farmer's wife."

"The mistress in a scholar's household seems a fine life to me," said Tertia.

"The life of a business woman, helping my husband to run his shop profitably appeals greatly to me," said Semistra. "So it's agreed that we should make this change?"

All three sisters considered Semistra's words carefully and then they agreed. 

They spent one final night, sleeping beneath the stars in the manner of the wanderers that they'd been and the next day reached the village where the three brothers lived.

By an unspoken understanding, the three sisters parted ways at the village's edge and went to meet their prospective husbands.

Tertia was the first to meet her intended. The scholar was the youngest of the brothers: baby-faced, ink-stained and serious, he nonetheless greeted Tertia politely. "You are new to this village?" he asked.

"I have travelled from the frozen north," Tertia answered, smiling. "Seeking a place where I might find myself a home. This village seems a pleasing place to live so I thought that I might offer my services as a housekeeper and earn my keep."

The brother's serious expression never wavered. "As you can see, I am but a poor scholar not yet of second class rank within the civil service. I cannot keep you in a fitting manner."

"But," bargained Tertia, "if you were to permit me to keep your study clean and to cook your food and see to your laundry so that you always have a clean robe, surely you would have more time for your studies. I can see that you are a wise and clever young man: you will pass your second class exam in no time without such domestic distractions."

At this the scholar glanced down self-consciously studying his frayed robe and cluttered studio. "Perhaps what you say is true," he allowed.

"All I seek is a place to lay my head at night and some morsels of food. I ask for no more."

The scholar could hardly believe his good luck at this. "If you are certain of this offer, I will agree."

"I am certain."

And so Tertia had found herself if not a husband then at least a place to stay and begin her new life.

Semistra was next. She found the apothecary in his shop, seated at the counter. He was the middle brother and looked worn and worried as he clutched at his thinning hair.

"What troubles you, Master Apothecary?" Semistra asked.

"My former assistant," he answered. "It seems that they have been robbing me blind and stealing from my customers too. I must find a way to make amends or else I shall be penniless and homeless."

"Perhaps I can help?" Semistra asked. "I've travelled and learned much herb lore along the way. I have a recipe for ginger tea that people would find delightful and more besides. I also know how to keep track of a ledger. If you'll take me on, I will gladly help you rebuild."

The apothecary moaned. "Yours is a most generous offer, but alas, I have nothing to offer in return."

"A place to rest and a good meal is all I need in return," Semistra replied. "And a chance to learn from you, for while I know much, there is always more to learn."

For the first time in many long weeks, the apothecary felt his heart lighten. "You would really be satisfied with such paltry returns?"

"I would."

"Then I accept."

And thus Semistra too had found her new position in life.

Finally it was Quarta's turn. The farmer, it turned out, lived on the far side of the village, just across the fast flowing stream that marked the village's northern boundary. He was the eldest brother and had inherited the farm from their elderly parents and it was clearly flourishing. The crops looked healthy and strong and it appeared it would be a bumper harvest, but the farmer, weather-beaten and stooped, looked on morosely.

"I see that you look troubled," Quarta called as she crossed the bridge.

"I am troubled," the farmer agreed. "My harvest should be a good one this year but alas there is just me to bring in all the crops and I shall never be able to harvest it all before it spoils."

"What if I were to help?" Quarta asked. "The two of us should be able to make much quicker progress than one of us alone."

"You?" The farmer looked surprised. "Surely such a menial task is beneath one so lovely as you!"

"I have been travelling this land for many months and have been willing to turn my hand to anything that might earn me a bed for the night and a full belly of food. Helping you to secure your crops will be an honour to me."

"You would really be pleased with such a thing?"

"I would."

"Then I accept."

So it was that the Hu sisters came to be settled in the village and they lived there for many years, happy in their chosen roles.

There came a point in their stay where all three admitted to their chosen partners that they weren't quite as they appeared, but by then the farmer, the apothecary and the scholar were smitten and professed that they were quite happy with how things had worked out for them.

The scholar never did quite reach the second class rank he had desired, but he made a successful career as a tutor and poet. The apothecary was able to recoup what he'd lost due to his faithless former assistant and built a thriving little business. The farmer's harvests went from strength to strength, enabling him to hire labourers to make things easier.

In due time, their chosen partners began to grow older. Their hair turned silver and their bodies stiffened and seized as old age began to ravage them while the sisters remained as young as they'd ever been, for, while they were not true immortals, they weren't quite of the mortal realm either.

The farmer was the first to reach the end of his life. Quarta was heartbroken on the day that her husband did not awake with the dawn. She oversaw the farm for the rest of that season and then sold it off to the senior labourer.

The scholar was soon to follow. Arthritis took his joints, blindness took his sight and, in the end, he begged Tertia to take pity on him.

The apothecary might have outlived both his brothers but for the nature of his infirmity. His body remaining strong until the end, but alas for him, his wits deserted him. Semistra found that she could no longer leave him alone in the shop for fear of what he might mix and she found herself frustrated by the changes. 

Matters had come to a close on the same day as Tertia soothed the scholar into the next world. The apothecary had lost his temper and struck out in a childlike tantrum with all the strength of a full-grown man. That night, to help him sleep, Semistra fed him a special tea made from poppyseed and other herbs that she knew to be soporifics. He soon drowsed off into his final sleep, eased away from a life that had made him a stranger even to himself.

Days later, the three sisters met up once more to determine what they should do now that their husbands had passed into the realm of the immortals. 

"We could stay on here," Semistra said. "The people here know us."

"I cannot stay," said Quarta. "The life I had here died with my husband."

"Perhaps we should split up and travel separate roads," Tertia suggested.

As they considered that suggestion, an itinerant priest arrived in the village. He took them in at a glance and his face turned a dark shade of red.

"You! Murderers! Evil women begone – you should be damned for your deeds!"

Tertia and Semistra exchanged guilty looks at one another, but Quarta held her head high. "We have done no such thing," she exclaimed hotly.

The priest looked unimpressed and started chant his exorcism rite. The sisters looked at one another and took to their heels, escaping his clutches.

After that they took to wandering once more until one day, Tertia came upon Mr Shang. Once more tired from their wandering, the three of them met with him in turn to see if this could become a new home to them all.

Tertia tried her luck first and Mr Shang seemed interested, but she quickly realised he was too similar to the scholar and she knew that she could not bear to remain in his presence for long.

Semistra also met with him, but while she found Mr Shang biddable – he happily went along with her suggestion of a feast – she felt no connection. He was missing the drive and ambition of her beloved apothecary.

Quarta, however, met with him and in him recognised the same soul as that of her farmer. They made an instant connection and Quarta knew that this would be where she and her sisters parted company.

One night, she said to him, "You should know that my sisters and I are not quite what we seem."

Mr Shang smiled in reply. "This I know. All three of you are beauties beyond human comprehension. I do not mind for you are not what they say."

This troubled Quarta for by now she knew the truth of her sisters' husbands' deaths. Both had been for moral reasons, but she knew that the realm of immortals would not view those acts kindly. She also knew that sooner or later the priest would catch them and that, perhaps, they did deserve to be caught after all.

Sure enough, no more than a day later, the priest did indeed arrive and catch them. Quarta felt herself being pulled into his trap and knew herself to be lost, along with her sisters. Then she felt angry that she was being punished for her sisters' crimes. She raged against the smooth glass walls of the trap until Mr Shang heard her.

"Do you swear that this is not a thing you have done?" he asked.

"I swear. I have never and will never kill a man – while I am a fox spirit, that is not my nature," Quarta answered.

Mr Shang nodded at this. "I know your words to be true so I will release you. But your sisters—"

"My sisters are already being judged for their actions," said Quarta, knowing this to be true. The other glass trap, once filled with spirit-smoke, was now more empty than full. She mourned that her sisters' spirits had been returned to the spirit realm for judgement and hoped that she might yet meet them again all the same.

Mr Shang simply nodded and set to work releasing her.

Once she was standing again before him, she said, "You know that I cannot remain?"

"This I know." He smiled at her, embraced her and then stepped back. "May we see each other again some day."

And with that Quarta left before the priest could once more capture her.

She had not gone far, however, before she came face to face with a different priest. Instinctively Quarta took a step backwards, preparing to flee.

This priest smiled. "Miss Quarta Hu, I've been seeking you. It is time."

"Time?"

"You have earned your reward for a life well spent. Come." The priest held out his hand. "Join our ranks as a true immortal."

Quarta accepted his offer and even now looks on over the affairs of morals with the soul of her farmer, which later became Mr Shang, beside her once again.


End file.
